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I have written about the four waves that have hit this nation, hoping that it will just end there, but it appears that there is a fifth wave in the making - this time, comprising university students.

I am compelled to write this piece, after reading news of what happened in Universiti Malaya last night, involving the future leaders of this country.

Despite being a strong supporter of Anwar Ibrahim in the last 10 years since he was incarcerated, I am not the type that go out for ceramah, but I was with the students at the university campus ground in spirit, and standing in solidarity with the former deputy prime minister.

My heart goes out to Anwar’s own family, especially Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and their eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah. I was particularly touched by Nurul Izzah’s latest video clip which has gone viral.

When the students of Universiti Malaya stormed the gates, the first impression may appear that they are aggressive and foolhardy, but one has to realise that these young people did not take to the streets to create chaos.

Instead, they merely stood their ground that the university is indeed public space, built with public funds; therefore, the university’s decision to ban Anwar’s talk and prosecute any outsiders entering the premises for the talk is unthinkable, illogical and plain stupidity.

All that is nothing but thwarted logics, in the same wavelength as the Attorney-General’s Chamber’s recent explanation that burning Bibles (perhaps, even committing murder) is not wrong if carried out within the context of defending Islam. I wonder since when the Almighty One needs to be defended by fellow mortals to the point that it is considered not wrong to burn another Holy Book.

The university authorities should realise by now that they cannot simply turn a public domain into private premises. If we allow this, the next thing is that, even the police station can be considered a “private place” and one can be charged with trespassing if a report is lodged against a police officer in charge of the station, and he (the accused) did not like the report.

Ridiculous? That’s how UM’s top brass turned out to be in public eyes after they argued that the university ground is a private place.

The tension could have been eased or better managed if the university authorities had allowed a public lecture by the Member of Parliament of Permatang Pauh, who is also the opposition leader of this country.

I simply cannot understand the rationale behind the university’s decision to bar the talk from happening unless there are orders from the top. After all, we are a civilised nation.

Muted far too long

The invitation by the Anwar’s decision to speak on the university’s campus ground is a reminiscence of student activism in the early seventies.

Although the Universities and University Colleges Act was introduced in 1971 to quell the voices of dissent amongst university staff and students 44 years ago, it appears that our younger generation will not give a damn to the powers-that-be.

This is after more than four decades of oppression. When the student activists gate-crashed into their campus ground, it was the turning point for student activism in this country. For far too long, their voices have been muted.

To call them ungrateful now is not going to work. It will only rub salt into the wounds, which have gone deep.

What the Barisan Nasional government and Umno should realise is that they have touched a few student activists in the last couple of months. Young people like Adam Adli, Safwan Anang and Ali Abd Jalil have shown to be brave to challenge the authorities, but they were all hauled up for sedition charges.

The way Ali was treated was more than what he could take, and as observers, many of us also feel that things have gone too far and a bit unwise of the government to do it to a young person. Several sedition charges were thrown at him.

Despite threats to suspend him, UM Undergraduates Association (PMUM) president Fahmi Zainol was prepared to face the music for something that he believes in.

It will not surprise us if UM suspends him, and his government scholarship is withdrawn, but it appears that the fire that is burning in the hearts of the young people like him, especially when a handful of them were being thrown the long arm of the law.

Others like UM’s law lecturer Azmi Shahrom and Unisel’s Aziz Bari have been investigated under the Sedition Act 1946, despite the people’s urging to stop the persecution of student activists, law professors and opposition lawmakers.

On the contrary, when the Universiti Pertahanan Malaysia lecturer Redzuan Tee Abdullah opened his foul mouth, or when Utusan Malaysia ’s editors pour out contempt against the other races, no one is hauled up or charged with sedition.

The controversies that they have stirred up is done at the expense of BN and Umno, which is seeing its public support eroding fast, especially amongst the younger generation of Malaysians.

Almost with certainty, one can predict, within the next two or even three weeks, there will be a lot of brickbats thrown at BN and Umno over the UM incident. In the mainstream media, there will be all the damage control that pundits aligned to BN and Umno will have to do in order to pacify the people, but will the fire die down so easily after Anwar is thrown into prison a second time?

Now that Ali is seeking asylum in Sweden, and he can continue his student activism from overseas, to block his voice from reaching the people will only prove to be another disaster for BN/Umno. With the power of the Internet, the world is now borderless.

Society has changed, but Umno and its BN component parties are still living in self-denial. Until they are prepared to acknowledge what I now see as the fifth wave, student activism will be one that is hardest to quell, because these are the future leaders of this nation. In fact, it is a multi-racial force, unlike the people belonging to my generation.

Their activism signal the heartbeat of the present-day Generation Y, and their dissatisfaction with the present regime, will almost certainly turn into votes for the Pakatan coalition come the 14th general election.

Time for peace

The best solution, in my opinion, is for Umno and BN to concede defeat even for once during the coming general election. Meanwhile, Najib Abdul Razak’s administration has to prove it is worth its salt by dismantling what is considered draconian. A promise unfulfilled is an empty promise.

The people have demanded that all sedition charges against opposition leaders, members of the media, law professors, students and activists be dropped. The voice of the people is clear: the Sedition Act 1948 has to be repealed, along with a number of other ‘oppressive’ laws such as the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, ‘opaque’ laws such the Official Secrets Act 1972, and suppressive laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

If Umno thinks that it has a grip hold of the activists and politicians by prosecuting them and throwing them into prison, it is absolutely wrong. While P Uthayakumar was in prison, the people were still supporting him.

The moment Uthayakumar was released from prison, he urged the people to vote for Pakatan. Even his brother, P Waythamoorthy has realised that sweet promises made before the last general election were never fulfilled; instead, he was being ostracised by senior members of the cabinet.

Being in the minority, Umno’s 3 million members (even if the figure is accurate, it is only 10 percent of the country’s population) should realise that it is not in a positon to negotiate the moment the silent majority is awakened.

It can only be strong and powerful when it has the people’s support, but based on the results in the last two general elections, it appears that the people’s support for Umno and BN have dropped, but the 60-year-old coalition continues to lead the country with only 48 percent of the country’s voters supporting it.

The Bersih 2.0 committee has identified this as “gerrymandering and disproportionate delineation” of constituencies, which allows the BN to have a larger majority in parliament.

The backlash of its continued persecution against Pakatan leaders and activists will only be seen at the ballot box, and perhaps, this time, will the blame be on the Students Tsunami? Playing the blame game will not lead us anywhere as a nation.

Until that happens, it is unlikely that the five waves that I have identified will be quelled that easily. The fifth wave will have the greatest impact, because these young people will develop their voting pattern that determines the future of this country.


STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.

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